I learned a couple useful things last night as I changed out two faucets. One is that you can take the holey piece off the pull rod (that goes above the faucet) and put it on another pull rod. If you don't want to change the drain assembly, this makes things really easy. Since I didn't have to muck about with a drain assembly on the second faucet, I got done in about 45 minutes, including going and getting a couple things I missed. The first one took close to 2 hours as I changed the drain assembly, as I hadn't realized this trick.
Next is some faucets come with aerator keys. You'll lose them before you need them. I took a piece of wire I had handy and tied the aerator key to the drain pipe. Now when I go looking for it, I'll hopefully see it hanging there.
Do you guys that do your own plumbing sometimes pop the counter top off a small vanity to change the faucet? I seriously considered doing that on one faucet.
Obligatory Woodworking Content: these faucet problems interrupted my work on a tool sharpening bench. Belt sander, Worksharp and Bench Grinder all in one convenient spot, so hopefully I can keep the dust and grit better contained. The bench itself is nothing special, just thrown together using shop scraps. I plan on adding some bags of concrete to the bottom for mass when I finally decide where to put it.
Puckdropper